1 ARST Meanwhile, Saul continued angrily threatening to kill those who believed in the Lord Jesus. He went to the high priest in Jerusalem BSB BSB: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
2 ARST and requested him to write letters introducing Saul to the leaders of the Jewish synagogues in the city of Damascus. The letters would ask them to give Saul the authority to seize any man or woman who followed the teachings of Jesus and take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.{ There the Jewish leaders could judge and punish them. The high priest gave Saul the letters he asked for.} BSB BSB: and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
3 ARST While Saul and those with him were traveling, they were approaching Damascus. Suddenly a brilliant light from heaven shone around Saul. BSB BSB: As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
4 ARST Immediately he fell onto the ground. Then he heard the voice of someone say to him,“Saul, Saul, stop trying to hurt me!” BSB BSB: He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
5 ARST Saul asked him,“Lord, who are you?” He replied,“I am Jesus, whom you are hurting. BSB BSB: “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
6 ARST Now stand up and go into the city of Damascus! Someone there will tell you what I want you to do.” BSB BSB: “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 ARST The men who were traveling with Saul were so astonished that they could not say anything. They just stood there. This was because they heard someone speaking, but they did not see anyone. BSB BSB: The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.
8 ARST Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could not see anything. So the men with him took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. BSB BSB: Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
9 ARST For the next three days Saul could not see anything, and he did not eat or drink anything. BSB BSB: For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.
10 ARST In Damascus there was a man who believed in Jesus named Ananias. Jesus made him see a vision and in it he called to him,“Ananias!” Ananias replied,“Lord, I am listening.” BSB BSB: In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
11 ARST Jesus told him,“Go to Straight Street, to the house that belongs to Judas. Ask someone there if you can talk to a man named Saul who is from the city of Tarsus. Saul is praying to me at this moment. BSB BSB: “Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12 ARST Saul has seen a vision in which a man named Ananias entered the house where he was staying and put his hands on him to restore his sight.” BSB BSB: In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 ARST Ananias answered,“But Lord, many people have told me about this man! He has done many bad things to the people in Jerusalem who believe in you! BSB BSB: But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 ARST The chief priests have given him permission to come here to Damascus and take prisoner all those who believe in you!” BSB BSB: And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
15 ARST But Jesus told Ananias,“Go visit Saul! Do what I say, because I have chosen him to serve me. I want him to speak about me to non- Jewish people and their leaders and to the Israelite people. BSB BSB: “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
16 ARST I myself will tell him that he must often suffer in order to tell people about me.” BSB BSB: I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
17 ARST So Ananias went, and after he found the house where Saul was, he entered it. Then, as soon as he met Saul, he put his hands on him, and he said,“Saul, you are already like a brother to me. Jesus himself commanded me to come to you. Jesus is the one who appeared to you while you were traveling along the road to Damascus. He sent me to you to restore your sight, and he wants the Holy Spirit to lead and empower you.” BSB BSB: So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 ARST Instantly, what seemed like flakes fell from Saul’ s eyes, and he was able to see again. Then he got up and was baptized. BSB BSB: At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
19 ARST After Saul ate some food, he became strong again. Saul stayed with the other believers in Damascus for several days. BSB BSB: and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
20 ARST Right away he began to preach about Jesus in the Jewish synagogues. He told the people there that Jesus is the Son of God. BSB BSB: Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”
21 ARST The people who heard him preach were amazed. Some of them were saying,“We can hardly believe that this is the same man who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem! And he came here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests in Jerusalem!” BSB BSB: All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 ARST But God enabled Saul to preach to many people even more convincingly. He was proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. The Jewish leaders in Damascus became angry{ because they could not disprove what he said}. BSB BSB: But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
23 ARST Some time later, the Jewish leaders there plotted to kill him. BSB BSB: After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
24 ARST Those Jewish leaders were continually watching the people passing through the city gates so that if they saw Saul there, they could kill him. However, someone told Saul what they planned to do. BSB BSB: but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
25 ARST So some of those whom he had led to believe in Jesus took him one night to the high stone wall that surrounded the city. They used ropes to lower him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. In this way he escaped from Damascus. BSB BSB: One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
26 ARST When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the other believers there. However, almost all of them continued to be afraid of him. They were not convinced that he had become a believer. BSB BSB: When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
27 ARST But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He explained to the apostles how, while Saul was traveling along the road to Damascus, he had seen Jesus, who had spoken to him there. He also told them how Saul had preached boldly about Jesus to people in Damascus. BSB BSB: Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.
28 ARST So Saul began to meet with the apostles and other believers throughout Jerusalem. He spoke boldly to the people there about Jesus. BSB BSB: So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
29 ARST Saul was also speaking about Jesus with Jews who spoke Greek, and he was debating with them.{ They could not answer his arguments,} so they were continually trying to think of a way to kill him. BSB BSB: He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
30 ARST But the other believers found out that the Jews who spoke Greek were planning to kill Saul. So some of them took him to the city of Caesarea. There they put him on a ship that was going to Tarsus, his hometown. BSB BSB: When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 ARST Since no one was persecuting them anymore, the believers throughout the entire regions of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria were able to live peacefully. The Holy Spirit was strengthening them and encouraging them. They were honoring the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was leading many other people to become believers. BSB BSB: Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
32 ARST { Those peaceful conditions allowed} Peter to travel throughout those regions. Once he went to the coastal plain to visit the believers who lived in the town of Lydda. BSB BSB: As Peter traveled throughout the area, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.
33 ARST There he met a man whose name was Aeneas. Aeneas was not able to walk or stand, and so he had not been able to get up from his bed for eight years. BSB BSB: There he found a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
34 ARST Peter said to him,“Aeneas, Jesus the Messiah heals you! Get up and roll up your own mat!” Right away Aeneas stood up. BSB BSB: “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and put away your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up,
35 ARST Most of the people who lived in Lydda and on the Plain of Sharon saw Aeneas after the Lord had healed him, so they believed in the Lord Jesus. BSB BSB: and all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 ARST In the town of Joppa there was a believer whose name was Tabitha. Her name in the Greek language was Dorcas. She was always doing good deeds for poor people by giving them things that they needed. BSB BSB: In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.
37 ARST During the time that Peter was in Lydda, she became sick and died. Some women there washed her body{ according to the Jewish custom}. Then they{ covered her body with cloth and} placed it in an upstairs room in her house. BSB BSB: At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.
38 ARST Lydda was near the city of Joppa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was still in Lydda, they sent two men to go to Peter. When they arrived where Peter was, they urged him,“Please come immediately with us to Joppa!” BSB BSB: Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to urge him, “Come to us without delay.”
39 ARST Peter got ready right away and went with them. When he arrived at the house in Joppa, they took him to the upstairs room where the body of Dorcas was lying. All the widows there stood around him. They were crying and showing him the tunics and other garments that Dorcas had made for people while she was still alive. BSB BSB: So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 ARST But Peter sent them all out of the room{ so that he could pray}. Then he got down on his knees and prayed. Then, turning toward her body, he said,“Tabitha, stand up!” Immediately she opened her eyes and, when she saw Peter, she sat up. BSB BSB: Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
41 ARST He grasped one of her hands and helped her to stand up. After he had summoned the believers and especially the widows among them to come back in, he showed them that she was alive again. BSB BSB: Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive.
42 ARST Soon people everywhere in Joppa knew about that miracle and, as a result, many people believed in Jesus. BSB BSB: This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
43 ARST Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a man named Simon, who made leather from animal skins. BSB BSB: And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.